Four Times Gabriel Was There For His True Vessel
by Taywen
Summary: ...and the One Time He Wasn't. AU-ish wherein Loki is this weird guy who keeps popping up in Adam's life and giving him candy  because Adam is actually Gabriel's True Vessel. Spoilers up to the end of season 5.


Disclaimer: Supernatural does not in any way belong to me, it's the property of Eric Kripke, etc.

Note: messing with the timeline a bit - Gabriel dies before Adam gets resurrected, not the other way around. (Hammer of the Gods, 5.19, happens before Point of No Return, 5.18.)

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><p>Four Times Gabriel Was There For His True Vessel, and the One Time He Wasn't<p>

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><p><strong>zero<strong>.

Gabriel is lonely, after he flees Heaven. He doesn't realize it at first, too occupied with his anger and hurt - he never wants to see his brothers fighting amongst themselves ever again - and the stress of remaining hidden from the other angels.

(Michael and Raphael do not come down to Earth to search for him, but Gabriel tells himself he's glad of this fact.)

He occupies himself with crafting a new persona for himself, carefully restraining and concealing his Grace until he can walk past one of his younger brothers without them even noticing his presence.

Gabriel gets the permission of a human suitable to be his vessel (though he doesn't find one that he _really_ likes for many centuries) and checks on his line - a surrogate family, except not really - whenever he remembers to.

The archangel is surprised when he checks on the latest descendents of that first vessel and finds one of them occupied by-

He's so surprised that he doesn't recognize it at first. It's not a 'regular' supernatural being - not, for lack of a better word, a monster - and it's far more powerful than most of the other creatures he's come across before. Not a demon, not an angel...

Gabriel has seen pagan deities before, but all of them are different. He isn't sure where they come from - He created everything, but Gabriel doesn't remember Him creating them. However, they aren't - at least from what Gabriel has seen - as powerful as his Father.

The god mistakes Gabriel as another deity and invites him to Asgard. What will become the Norse pantheon is still relatively young in those days, and Gabriel fashions himself the persona of Loki - a trickster god.

Gabriel amuses himself judging those he considers deserving, giving the twisted and evil a taste of their own medicine. It goes against his Father's teachings, allowing himself to be worshipped and revered as a god when Gabriel _knows_ he is not, but at this point Gabriel thinks that God must be gone, if not dead then surely too apathetic to intervene. He isn't sure which alternative would be worse.

Time passes, Gabriel gradually losing most of his more angelic qualities - he thinks of himself as Loki, now, and it's not as if anyone knows (or cares) enough to tell anyone otherwise. He still checks in on his line of vessels, though their blood has become increasingly diluted as time goes on - Loki doubts that he would be able to use them as his vessels even if he could gain their consent.

The trickster stills keep track of them, though, not having much better to do beyond think of increasingly entertaining tricks and eating chocolate and candy (which are probably the best things humans ever invented - seriously).

**one**.

Adam is playing in the big tree in their yard. It's a massive old thing, planted on the Milligans' side of the fence, but the gnarled branches spread wide, shading a good portion of their neighbour's yard as well. His mom is dozing on a plastic lawn chair, but Adam doesn't mind - his mom is always tired from her shifts at the local hospital, and just having her nearby is good enough for the young boy.

And, well, if he's _really_ truthful, his mom's temporary inattention gives him the chance to climb the old tree without her worriedly warning him to not climb too high.

Adam perches on a sturdy branch, biting his lip in concentration. This is higher than he's ever dared to go before, but he's spent a lot of time staring at the old tree, mapping likely paths he could take to reach the top. It's a bit different actually climbing up himself, but so far it hasn't been all that hard.

Until now, that is. The boy frowns as he stares at the next branch, just out of his reach. If only he was a little bit taller..!

Adam glances down - the ground seems pretty far away, but he's sure he's been higher than this before. Sometimes, when his mom takes him to the park and he swings as hard as he can - well, surely that's higher than he is now. He's jumped off the swings before, and he landed just fine.

So even if he falls from here, Adam reasons, at the most he might scrape his knee. It would hurt a little bit, but his mom could always kiss it better.

Of course, this doesn't get him any closer to being able to reach that elusive branch. Honestly, it seems like there's less than an inch between his grasping fingers and the bark. Adam leans back slightly, then launches himself forward, arms outstretched.

His fingers brush the branch, curling instinctively-

And then he's falling.

(It occurs to him in the split second between free fall and impact, that he had misjudged the distance - from the branch, and the ground.)

_Crunch_.

Adam winces, wondering if he broke the branch or something. The sound didn't, well, sound good. He glances around, but doesn't see anything beneath him.

The weird way his left ankle is twisted startles him.

"-Adam?" his mother asks, woken by the sound of his ankle breaking. "Adam?" she repeats, panic overcoming the exhaustion in her voice when she realizes she can't see her son.

Adam sucks in quick breaths through his mouth, bile rising in his throat as he stares at the unnatural angle of his foot. He wants to look away but he can't-

It _hurts_-

He starts crying, screwing his eyes shut and _bawling_.

"Adam, it's ok," his mother says in a (forced) calm voice as she runs to the gate. The fence is too tall for her to climb. She keeps talking to him, but Adam doesn't hear what she's saying. Her voice fades, since she has to go into the house to come around to this side.

"Hey there, kiddo," a strange voice says - it's not the neighbour's, or his mom's.

Adam's afraid to open his eyes (because he'll just see his stupid twisted ankle-) but he does anyway, out of surprise. There's a brown-haired man crouched before him, but Adam doesn't recognize him at all. Adam wants to ask who the man is, but whenever he opens his mouth all that comes out are sobs.

The man looks at him weirdly, then raises one hand and snaps his fingers.

Instantly, the pain is gone. Adam feels his ankle twisting back into its proper alignment, but it's not painful or anything.

"Feeling better?" the man asks, grinning.

Adam smiles back. "Y-yeah," he manages to say.

"Good! Now, here's some chocolate." The man presses a wrapped bar into his hand. "Maybe think twice before trying to fly, next time, kiddo," he adds, still grinning.

"I wasn't tryin'a _fly_," Adam says, scrunching his face up in annoyance. He looks down at the chocolate bar the man gave him. "Snickers, my favourite!" he cries.

The man laughs. "I figured it might be. Well, I'll see you around, kiddo." He just- _disappears_, right as his mom bursts through the gate.

"Are you ok, baby?" she asks, crouching down beside him. "What happened?"

"I fell out of the tree," Adam says, rubbing his cheeks dry with the cuff of one sleeve. "And... And I twisted my ankle."

His mother immediately focuses on that, probing it gently. It doesn't hurt at all now, though.

Adam lets his mom take him inside and sits quietly on the couch as she fusses over him, and makes him his favourite supper even though she really doesn't have the time to. He eats the Snickers bar slowly, thinking about the strange man.

(Eventually, the cartoon his mom put on distracts him and Adam forgets about the whole thing, dropping the wrapper into the bottom drawer of his desk to be pondered another day.)

**two**.

Usually there's at least one other kid - and their parent(s) - at the playground, but today Adam has the place to himself. He prefers it this way, to be honest. He doesn't have to wait for his turn at the slide, or avoid the swings because his _favourite_ is occupied by someone else. Ok, maybe the carousel's a bit more fun when it's not just him pushing, but- Other than that, it's awesome.

Teachers at his school, and his mom, have impressed the dangers of talking to strangers on the eight year old, of course. But it's not like he's talking to the creepy man sitting on the bench, watching Adam swing higher and higher.

The creepy guy looks kind of familiar, actually. Adam's seen him standing across the street from the school - he was probably someone's dad. Sometimes, Adam's walked past him on his way home from the playground, too. But it's not like Windom is a big place either - it's possible that the guy lived in the same neighbourhood as him.

Kind of weird that the guy's here now, alone, at the playground, but Adam ignores him and occupied himself with trying to swing all the way around the top bar. He's pretty sure that such a thing was impossible, but maybe he would be the first one to manage it.

"Hey, Adam," the man says, causing Adam to flinch in surprise. He's been staring at the sky - a little bit cloudy, but the clouds were all in _boring_ shapes. It hadn't stopped him from trying to see animals and stuff in them, though. Well, anyway, he hadn't noticed the creepy man's approach. "Do you want a push?"

Adam frowns slightly, wanting to edge away from the man. Unfortunately, swings being what they were, he kept ending up back near him. He doesn't want to stop, though, because then he'd end up _even closer_ to the creepy guy. And how did the guy know Adam's name, anyway? "No thank you," he says politely.

"Are you sure?" the man persists, taking a step forward. Adam leans away as he passes the man on the way down. "It's more fun when you have someone to push you - which you don't usually have, right?" the man adds reasonably.

Up close, his hair is all greasy and his eyes look kind of beady. Adam looks away, scanning the street for anyone. Of course, there isn't anyone around. "How do you know that?" he demands. "Have you been watching me?"

The man's mouth twists. "Adam-"

"How d'you know my _name_?" the boy adds shrilly. As soon as he reaches the top, he's going to jump off and run away. His backpack is still sitting against one of the supports, but he can come back and get it later. Or maybe not come back at all, but the point is it wasn't all that important right then.

Adam jumps, his stomach dropping out momentarily as he is suddenly falling-

-_think twice before trying to fly, next time, kiddo_-

-and for one endless moment he thinks he's going to be fine.

The sand is uneven where he lands, causing him to stagger. His knee scrapes against the wooden border separating sand from grass, a momentary spark of pain that makes Adam gasp but is quickly forgotten as he pushes himself to his feet.

But even as he takes off, Adam can hear the shifting of the sand behind him, the muttered _fuck_ as the man chases him.

"Help-!" A giant, clammy hand closes over his mouth, the man yanking Adam back against him. The boy lashes out instinctively, trying to kick and hit the man everywhere he can reach.

"Stop struggling you little _brat_-"

"Excuse me," a third person interrupts them.

The man freezes, his grip slackening. Adam manages to wriggle free and darts in the direction of his unexpected saviour. His face and shoulder hurt where the man had gripped him, and his mouth tastes- _gross_.

A quick glance doesn't reveal much about the newcomer, no recognition or memories triggered. Adam stares at him for a few seconds, and then he remembers: The guy who gave him a chocolate bar after he fell out of the old tree in his backyard four years ago.

"Who the hell are you?" the creepy man demands. Adam thinks he sounds scared, but he doesn't feel sorry in the least- it serves the creepy man right for scaring Adam like that.

"Neighbourhood watch," the shorter guy answers flippantly.

"We don't have a neighbourhood watch, Mister," Adam can't resist pointing out, though he makes no attempt to move away from him.

"Well, maybe you should," the shorter guy drawls, smirking. His eyes aren't smiling, though.

"Look, buddy, me and the kid were just playing around," Creepy Man says.

"No we weren't!" Adam puts in indignantly. "I was fine playing by myself an' he just walked up-"

"Shut the hell up," Creepy Man snarls, glaring at Adam.

"Language," Short Guy says mildly, sounding like Adam's teacher giving a disappointed scolding. "I let it slide the first time, but really. That's not the sort of thing grownups say around kids."

"I'm eight," Adam mutters sulkily.

"That means you're a kid, kiddo." Short Guy grins down at Adam, and this time his eyes match his mouth.

"I'll just go then, all right? I'm going to leave, and we'll forget this ever happened," Creepy Man says in the same reasonable tone he'd used before. Adam hadn't bought it then and he isn't buying it now. But if the Creepy Man wants to go, Adam isn't about to stop him, either.

"Oh, I don't think so," Short Guy answers, his gaze returning to the other man.

"You gonna try and stop me?" Creepy Man retorts in a menacing voice. Adam doesn't feel scared, though, not with Short Guy to stand behind.

"I won't have to _try_," Short Guy sighs, like the conversation is boring him. "But some things aren't appropriate for all audiences, so we'll have to take this to a place that's a little more private... Just give me a few minutes to drop the kid off." Short Guy snaps his fingers, and the Creepy Man disappears.

"Where'd he go? Did he just teleport away?" Adam asks, looking around for any sign of him.

"I guess you could say that," Short Guy agrees, grinning. "Don't worry about him, though - don't you think it's time to be going home? I bet your parents are missing you."

"Mom's at work. Don't have a Dad," Adam answers, but goes to grab his backpack anyway. "I can walk home myself," he adds.

"I don't mind walking you home," Short Guy assures him, holding out his hand expectantly. Adam stares at it for a couple of seconds before grudgingly slipping his hand into the man's.

"It's this way," Adam says, leading him out of the park.

"Do you walk home alone every day?" Short Guy asks, walking at the same pace as Adam.

"Yeah. Mom's at the hospital. She makes me dinner during the day and I heat it up after," Adam explains, not seeing any reason not to tell him.

"Huh," the guy says thoughtfully, and they walk in silence until they come to the walk leading to Adam's front door.

"Are you gonna go see that creepy guy now?" Adam asks, looking up at Short Guy.

"That's the plan, unless you want me to stick around?"

Adam shrugs, looking at his house. "I'm okay."

Short Guy is staring at him with a strange look on his face, but he immediately grins when he notices Adam's studying him in return. "If you say so, kiddo." He snaps his fingers, and then presses a Snickers bar into the boy's hand.

"Thanks," Adam says automatically, frowning at the chocolate. He _knows_ that it wasn't in the guy's hand before, and he didn't pull the bar out of his pocket or something... Then again, Creepy Man just disappeared in the same way the chocolate appeared, so maybe it's not all bad. Adam definitely got the better side of the trade, anyway.

"No prob," Short Guy says easily. "I'd better get going."

"Bye," Adam says.

"See you, kiddo."

(A week later, there's a small mention in the newspaper - a local man has gone missing without a trace. No one finds him.)

**interlude**.

Adam's older and wiser than he was five years ago, obviously. It seems like it's been ages since he last saw the strange man who gave him candy - and isn't that a weird thing to think? It's sketchy, to say the very least.

At this point, the boy - teenager, he's _thirteen_ now - has convinced himself that he imagined the whole thing. He's tossed the two Snickers wrappers that, for the longest time, he had kept in the bottom drawer of his desk; maybe it's a little odd that he didn't break anything falling out of the big tree in his backyard all those years ago, but it's not like that's completely beyond the realm of possibility.

(The truth is, he used to think that, maybe, the short man was his father. It had taken him a while to wear his mom down, but the campaign had been successful when Adam was eleven and he'd met his father - a tall, broad man by the name of John Winchester. John - his dad - was awesome, obviously, but Adam couldn't deny his disappointment.)

So, anyway, the candy man (Adam vows never to think of the imaginary figure like that_ ever again_) was obviously just a figment of a child's lonely imagination.

Adam is understandably confused when he practically walks into the guy coming out of the local convenience store.

The man draws up short, reaching a hand out automatically to stop Adam from toppling right over. "... Huh. Wasn't expecting to you again so soon," the brunet remarks, blinking.

"It's been _five years_," Adam points out, snarking on autopilot. So, imaginary!dad is actually real - unless Adam was hallucinating? Why would he hallucinate such an odd response, though?

The man shrugs, rummaging in his pockets for a moment before producing a brightly-wrapped lollipop. "My point exactly," he drawls, tossing the wrapper on the ground.

And, just, what? "How old are you, anyway?" Adam splutters, looking around wildly. This must be some weird dream, but everything seems normal.

There's a pause as the man sucks obnoxiously on his candy. "I kind of stopped keeping track," he confides to the boy at last, like it's a big secret instead of complete nonsense.

"What-?" Adam starts to demand, then thinks better of it. His head is already starting to hurt from the conversation, he doesn't want to get into it any further. "What are you doing here?" he asks instead, in a slightly more reasonable tone.

"Working," is the mysterious reply. Adam would have mistaken it for serious if it wasn't for the look of amusement in the man's brown- hazel- in the man's eyes.

"Now, why don't I believe that," the boy mutters under his breath, shifting his backpack into a more comfortable position on his shoulders. He just wanted to stop in at the store for a post-math-test Snickersbar on the way home.

"Because you're an angst-ridden and cynical teenager, Adam Milligan!" The man smirks around the lollipop, one cheek puffed out unnaturally because of it.

Adam scowls, not amused in the slightest. "Ok, that right there? Creepy. You know my name, all I know is that you show up when I'm in trouble," he says accusingly, looking around again just to make sure that he's not, actually, in trouble. "... And right now, I guess," he grudgingly adds.

"Call me Loki." The man - _Loki_, apparently - reaches up and presses two fingers to Adam's forehead, not hard but not gently either.

Adam flinches back, his eyes widening. His gaze wavers for a minute, remembering the sudden, searing heat of Loki's fingers, but there's no pain now. "Ow- What the hell was that?" he demands, narrowing his eyes at the man.

Loki shrugs. "Think of it as... a direct line to me. You're in trouble, all you've gotta do is think my name and ask for help. I'll be there," he tells Adam seriously, like it should explain everything. Except it really doesn't, at all.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound sketchy at all," he retorts scathingly, rubbing at his forehead, like he's expecting to feel a mark or something. The skin feels totally normal, though. He isn't sure what to make of that.

"Less snark, more gratitude, mortal," Loki answers, though his smirk ruins the effect.

Adam rolls his eyes, dropping his hand back to his side - he'll check later, but for now it seems like he's fine, and it would look stupid to keep rubbing his forehead."Thanks for creeping on me. I appreciate it."

The man sighs wearily, though Adam's sure it's only half-serious. "You're lucky I like you, kid."

Like, _likes_ him? Adam looks around again, wondering if there are any witnesses around. Everyone seems to be on the other side of the street, walking around like this isn't one of the weirdest things Adam has ever witnessed. Well, they'll be able to hear him if he starts shouting, anyway. "... Right. I'm a minor, you know?" he says cautiously.

Loki looks up briefly, like he's asking for patience or something. Adam's familiar with this sort of reaction from his teachers, which does make him feel a little better. "Not like _that_," the man scoffs, all outrage and annoyance. "That would be- morally gray, at the very least. And don't get me started about the age difference," he adds.

Because Adam absolutely cannot keep his mouth shut, he just has to ask, "Your specialty?"

"Am I the only one who remembers what happened last time we met?" Loki complains, though somehow Adam gets the impression that the guy actually is starting to get annoyed now.

Adam does remember, of course, even if he convinced himself it was all imagined. There's still a faint scar on his left knee, from jumping off the swing. "... Right. Thanks for that, I guess," he mutters, looking down at his scuffed sneakers in- embarrassment? Confusion?

"Such gratitude. It warms my heart," Loki deadpans, but when Adam looks back up he's smirking again.

Later, Adam will look up the name 'Loki' and be suitably cowed and awed, but now he just huffs and asks again, "So why are you here? The last two times I saw you, I was in trouble." He looks around again, just to make sure - it doesn't look like anything is going to happen, but. "... I'm not going to get mugged or something, am I?" he adds jokingly.

Loki shrugs. "Not that I know of. Though if you are, don't hesitate to give me a call." With a _crunch_, he bites through the remains of the lollipop, chewing noisily before swallowing and chucking the empty stick away.

"Uh, thanks?" Adam answers, deciding not to push his luck any further. It doesn't escape his notice that the man still hasn't answered his _real_ question, but, hey, not pushing his luck and all.

Loki grins, like he knows what Adam's thinking. "Don't mention it. Now, I've gotta get back to work, so I'll be seeing you around, kiddo."

"What, no Snickers?" Adam blurts out quickly, not wanting the man to disappear into thin air just yet.

"You're in front of a freaking convenience store," Loki informs him, unimpressed. They both glance at the store automatically, and now that Adam's focussing, he thinks he hears some sort of commotion going on inside. "... On second thought, here you go," the man concedes. He snaps his fingers, and Adam instinctively catches the chocolate bar that appears in front of him. When he looks back up, the man is gone.

After thinking about it for a bit, Adam decides to just go home. Loki didn't seem to want him to go into the store, and to be honest Adam doesn't really like the owner - but the store did have the cheapest chocolate bars in Windom, even if the guy who owned it was a jackass. But now Adam has his chocolate fix, and doesn't need to deal with him anyway.

A sudden thought occurs to Adam just as he's walking in the door. "... Wait a minute, what kind of name is _Loki_-?"

(The rumours start circulating the next day - the owner of the convenience store was found dead, under _extremely_ suspicious circumstances. Supposedly, the investigation is ongoing.)

**three**.

When Adam wakes up, he's lying on the ground next to his friend Josh's car. It's night, but there's a streetlight nearby, casting decent light around him. Adam blinks slowly, trying to figure out how he got where he is now.

"Seriously, can you not stay out of trouble for more than like five minutes?" an amused voice asks, familiar despite the fact that it's been a bit more than three years since Adam last heard it. And that's a bit unfair - three years does not equal five minutes, and Adam wasn't even in trouble last time they met.

But maybe Norse-god-giant-things have a different concept of time. That seems to be how immortals are always portrayed in literature, after all. Then again, as far as Adam had been able to find, trickster gods didn't exactly go around saving random kids either.

So what does he really know about Loki? Nothing.

"... Oh, it's you," Adam mutters, sitting up slowly.

Loki is leaning nonchalantly against the side of Josh's car, munching on a pack of Skittles. Loki rolls his eyes in response to the teenager's lacklustre greeting. "Well don't restrain yourself on my account," he says sarcastically. "And you're the one who called me," the trickster adds helpfully, tossing another Skittle into his mouth.

"I didn't _call_ you," Adam protests, because he honestly didn't. He can't remember what he was doing before he woke up here - there was a party, that much he knows. His mouth tastes sour, and when he runs a hand through his hair it's a bit messy, but that doesn't tell him anything.

"Ok, sorry," Loki says insincerely, "your panic was such that it was like a cry for help."

Panic? Panic over what? "So, what. You dropped whatever you were doing and came running? ... Teleporting? Apparating?" Despite the mystery of his current predicament, Adam can't stop himself from asking. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't done _a lot_ of research into Loki over the past three years, even if his interest had waned somewhat since then.

Not that he'd admit to it.

Loki smirks, like he knows his answer is just going to confuse Adam more. "Flying, actually," he answers innocently. "And wouldn't you do the same if you heard the equivalent of a baby screaming in pain?"

"I'm not a baby. And I wasn't screaming," Adam counters, annoyed. Sure, there were a few depictions of Loki with wings in the things that Adam had read, but they were more the exception than the norm.

"Metaphorically speaking," Loki insists smugly.

"Plus, you don't seem like the type who'd be bothered by a random baby crying," Adam points out, meanly. He doesn't know why he's doing this - Loki has helped him two out of the three times he's met him, so why is he making such a big deal out of it? But he's always had an instinctual need to mouth off at people.

Loki's eyes narrow. "I'm not the one who's perfectly fine standing outside a wrecked car with three dead-slash-grievously-wounded friends still inside," he drawls.

Adam's already opening his mouth to make some snappy and devastating retort when Loki's words really hit him. He remembers leaving the party, the pleasant buzz of the alcohol in his system making the four of them (even more) reckless as Josh gunned it down the otherwise deserted highway.

The gut-wrenching feeling when Josh jerked the wheel in an attempt to swerve around the deer crossing the road, the impact of the car into one of the numerous trees lining the road-

He feels cold, suddenly, and wraps his arms around himself in a feeble attempt to combat it. He staggers to his feet, remembering the pain-

Loki blocks him from going any further, completely immovable despite his compact frame.

"Dead? Are they seriously dead!" Adam demands, after a moment or two of futilely struggling in the shorter man's grip.

"Only one of them," Loki says casually, like it's no big deal. And he wonders why Adam would think he wouldn't care about being near a crying baby.

"You- you gotta do something, can't you, like, magic them back to life?" Adam stammers earnestly, grabbing Loki's shoulders. Any attempt to shake some sense into the man- trickster- is useless, since he remains still.

Loki looks up at him, arching an eyebrow. "Now, why would I do that?" he asks callously, and Adam has to look away from those suddenly inhuman eyes, the genuine _curiosity_ in the trickster's voice. And yet, something about what Loki says sticks in his mind - it implies that he actually _can_. "... Assuming I can, anyway," Loki adds as soon as Adam thinks that, making him wonder about telepathy and-

Not really important, right now.

"Nice fucking recovery," he hisses scathingly, stepping back. Loki releases him, though Adam gets the impression he'd stop him from seeing into the car if he tried it again.

"See, if you're looking to get me to help you out, _this_ is not gonna do it," Loki remarks, examining his fingernails. Apparently satisfied, he snaps his fingers and another package of Skittles appears in his hand.

Adam grits his teeth, frustrated and a (more than a) little terrified. Sure, Loki's not exactly the nicest guy, but Adam hadn't thought he was a total _dick_. "I'm sorry. Really. I- Look, what do you want me to do?"

Loki gives him a considering look, still nonchalantly eating his damn Skittles. "Nothing _too_ strenuous," he assures Adam slowly.

"So you can bring them back?" Adam presses.

Loki smirks, flicking a Skittle at Adam's face. "I'm just messing with you! I brought them back when I brought you back. Healed the others too." He chuckles like it's a great joke, nothing too out of the ordinary. Just another day in the life. "Well, not too much - it'd be a bit fishy if you all emerged unscathed, you know-"

"_I was dead_!" Adam interrupts - and if he sounds a little high-pitched and hysterical, it's not like anyone can fault him, right? He's too startled to protest the Skittle assault or to be annoyed with Loki jerking him around, or even to feel grateful that he _had_ brought back the teenager's friends after all.

Loki's chortling stops and he peers more closely at Adam. "Oh, you're upset," he says, sounding a little surprised. Adam would totally have retorted with a _no shit, Sherlock_ but- Still shocked, and all that. "... I guess that's understandable," the trickster concedes after he swallows down a few more candies.

Adam just- has no words.

"Here, eat this. It'll make you feel better," Loki says, pressing a Snickers bar at the shell-shocked teenager.

Adam takes it automatically, staring at it blankly without really seeing it.

"I called an ambulance too," the trickster adds helpfully. As if on cue, Adam hears the wail of sirens in the distance. Hell, for all Adam knows it _could_ be on cue - even if Loki's bullshitting him about the whole death thing, there is definitely something powerful about the guy, and Adam wouldn't put something stupidly dramatic like that past him.

Smirking, Loki finishes the last of Skittles and tosses the empty package away. "Well, it's been a blast. See you around, kiddo." With another snap of his fingers, the trickster disappears right before Adam's eyes.

Adam stares at the spot where Loki had just been, mouth working soundlessly. He can hear the sirens getting closer, and quickly stuffs the chocolate bar into his pocket. Feeling like he still needs to get a last word in, even though Loki is long gone, he mutters, "I don't even _like_ Snickers anymore."

(And if he imagines Loki's laughter echoing in his mind, well, he's not going to tell anyone about it.)

**o1**.

Gabriel- Loki- he spends much of his time laying low, now. With the recent return of other angels to this plane - but only the peons, the 'expendables', he notices; from what he has gathered, they don't realize that they're meant to bring on the Apocalypse, not stop it from happening - he has to be more careful. While he doesn't think walking into one would get him recognized, it's not like he wants to take any chances.

From what he sees of his Father's soldiers, Heaven is nothing like it used to be, now that Michael and Raphael have filled the power vacuum. Not that he was under any illusions, of course, but it's more than a bit depressing to have his expectations met.

It's harder to think of himself as only Loki anymore - Gabriel came first, and even though he'd like nothing more than to retreat to his Loki persona, it's not an easy task.

And of course, ever since he ran into the brothers Winchester, still firmly entrenched as Loki at that point, he'd know what they were after the first few seconds. (He wasn't talking about the hunter-thing, either.)

After that, it was only a matter of time before things came to a head - he even had a good idea of the exact year when it would go down, once Dean made his deal.

Fast forward a bit, and here Gabriel is, trying to lose a particularly persistent flight of angels that has caught on to him. Gabriel's reasonably certain they don't know who he _really_ is - the Messenger, the fourth Archangel, et al - but they do know he's a trickster.

When he slows so that they're close enough for him to eavesdrop on, he learns that they think he's working with the demons to break the Seals.

_That's_ a laugh. Just because he doesn't particularly feel inclined to try and stop it, he isn't going to hasten to bring the Apocalypse on, either.

In retrospect, breezing into that town hadn't been such a good plan, especially since he'd known beforehand that it met certain requirements, and with a bit of work could meet other (Seal-breaking) requirements.

_Loki_-!

Gabriel stumbles, metaphorically speaking. He'd been playing with the other angels before - lowly seraphs, no match for him - but now they're close enough to reach him. (If he's honest with himself, being around other angels for the first time in a very long time, misguided though they are, went a long way to soothing that ache within his being that he'd nearly forgotten about.)

"Stop, trickster," one of them orders, self-assured to the point of arrogance.

Not, of course, that angels can be accused of such sins. Certainly not.

Gabriel dodges and flies away to an obscure region of Africa. He has to be careful, now - make it look natural, the gradual lengthening of the lead between himself and his pursuit. Any faster and they'll catch on that he's not an ordinary trickster, albeit one with an unusual ability to teleport.

_Loki, I need your help- _

Loki- Gabriel- he ignores the voice, focussing on the task at hand. The calls get more insistent, a steady stream of consciousness whose volume increases with Adam's panic.

_Oh God, it hurts- make it stop, STOP IT MOM- WHYAREYOUDOINGTHIS?_

"Shut up," Gabriel snarls when he next touches ground, though whether he's talking to the arrogant angel or Adam, he can't be entirely sure.

He could always kill his pursuers - it's not like angels aren't dying left and right in the losing battle to protect the Seals, who'd really take notice of a few more - but it brings to mind memories of that first Rebellion, and Lucifer's betrayal. (Was it really a betrayal? Gabriel has been doubting a long time.)

Adam's pleas have degenerated into incoherent utterances of pain.

Gabriel- Loki- both, neither? He's regretting placing a small piece of his Grace within Adam's soul, now. It seemed like a good idea at the time - what better way to monitor his True Vessel?

Imagine his surprise when, after so many years, someone in his line not only met the requirements to be his vessel but would have been as equally suited to him as his current one?

Yet now the link is distracting Gabriel from what he needs to do, namely focussing on losing these _seriously_ persistent angels.

The possibility of flying to wherever he knows a fellow pagan god powerful enough to handle a few seraphs to be is rather tempting, but then the god would be pissed at Gabriel, and if he's really honest with himself (he doesn't make a habit of it - must be the renewed closeness to his angelic brethren) he doesn't want any more deaths within his family.

Which, yeah, is why he's not going to even try to stop the Seals from breaking because while he likes the world, he's pretty damn tired of angelic blood being spilled on the account of his older brothers.

Gabriel just wants it to end.

Hours later, he manages to lose them in a large city - it could be London or Berlin or any other heavily populated city out there, he doesn't even know anymore. It's not an important detail.

Hiding in plain sight is relatively easy - he just walks into the crowd, and his pursuers are left staring around in bewilderment. They might be able to sense demons, but pagan gods? Or powerful archangels for that matter? Not happening.

The downside is that more angels have joined them and now they're monitoring the whole city. If Gabriel tries to fly away, they'll notice.

Not that he thinks there'll be a need for that. Adam has been silent (deathly so- no, no Gabriel's not thinking of that) for at least two hours now. Gabriel tells himself that someone got help for the boy - maybe he was in surgery or something, blissfully unconscious now.

Yeah, right.

The archangel-turned-trickster lays low for a couple of days, during which time he almost goes stir-crazy. When Gabriel tries to surreptitiously check on the shard of his Grace he gave to Adam, he finds- nothing.

It's not like he makes a habit of giving piece of his Grace to people, so there _could_ be a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Somehow, he doubts that.

Finally, the angels get called away - apparently the rising number of broken Seals is more important than one trickster. Go figure.

Gabriel flies to Windom immediately. There he finds-

The Winchesters?

It doesn't look good, at all. Something has taken Adam's form. It's an excellent replica - Adam's memories are even intact, from the brief perusal that the archangel takes - but the thoughts are all wrong. Not snarky, but downright malicious.

Gabriel almost steps in and smites the ghoul - a fucking _ghoul_. Gabriel can barely force himself to revisit its memories of eating Adam alive, but some masochistic urge gets him through it. He considers resurrecting Adam - he's done it before, after all - but he'd arrived not long after Adam's death the last time. His soul hadn't even had time to fully leave his body.

The archangel locates the missing shard of his Grace with a thought - sure enough, it's in Heaven along with Adam. Someone would notice if a random soul got resurrected.

And for someone normal like Adam, Heaven is paradise. Can Gabriel really justify dragging the boy back just to satisfy his niggling conscience?

In the end, he just lets it go, like he always has.

Gabriel wasn't able to stop his brothers from fighting - his pleas fell on deaf ears and he was forced to watch Lucifer Fall.

Gabriel could have stopped this (and some part of him wonder why the fate of one human, True Vessel or not, should matter so much to him) and decided to preserve his own identity instead.

He leaves as soon as he finds the ghoul's reason for killing Adam: John Winchester.

Fucking Winchesters.

It does explain why Adam is- was- the first in a long time that could have been Gabriel's vessel. Michael's line strengthened him.

Maybe the ghouls will succeed in killing the brothers - Gabriel doubts it, but if they do it would put a serious wrench in Heaven and Hell's plans. Probably, the brothers will survive. Gabriel doesn't care, really. He just wants it over with.

(Later, two persistent Winchester and one annoyingly faithful little brother will convince him otherwise, after the pain of Adam's death has scarred over.

Gabriel's reward for siding with humanity will be his own blade through his chest, courtesy of one seriously arrogant older brother.)

**four**.

(The thing about dying is-

Well, it's the end.)

_Loki, you _bastard, _where the hell are you? What happened to your promise- _

Panic is the first thing he becomes aware of, followed by nonsensical sounds that eventually resolve into words-

The terrified diatribe of one recently-resurrected Adam Milligan.

Gabriel's very being aches, and with that thought he remembers-

-_Lucifer running him through with his own blade, the regretful yet unrepentant look in his eyes (a contradiction, but then Lucifer is contradiction personified isn't he) as he gazed down at his youngest brother_-

-everything.

Gabriel's power is much-diminished, but that spark of Grace he'd left in Adam seems to be the cause of his mysterious revival. He's pretty fucking sure that Luci had killed him _dead_, yet here he is, within some tacky illusion in an abandoned old warehouse.

On the matter of those _really fucking dead_, Gabriel seems to recall that Adam's supposed to be dead too. But given his growing awareness of Michael's approach, Adam's resurrection isn't such a mystery.

_I need your help, you stupid fuck- You _said _all I had to do was ask, where _are you-!

_Adam_, he says, speaking directly into the boy- teenager- man's mind. (When did the kid grow up? ... And did Gabriel seriously just think that?)

_Loki?_ Adam's surprise cuts through the panic for a moment, which hurts a bit but Gabriel supposes he deserves that. He _did_ leave the kid to be devoured by ghouls - a fate much worse than anything that Gabriel had saved him from over the years.

The room rumbles, filling with blinding light. Adam flinches, trying to curl further in upon himself in the corner of the room.

_Yeah, kiddo, it's me, _Gabriel says. _But- the name's Gabriel_.

_Gabriel? As in, one of the four archangels!_

Gabriel wonders how Adam got here, and what he knows. _Well. Technically, _he agrees reluctantly. _But look, we don't have tons of time before Mikey gets here_.

_Oh God, you must be. Even a trickster wouldn't talk about the Sword of Heaven like that_. Adam sounds amused, but Gabriel's chalking that up to hysteria and not the trickster-slash-archangel's awesome sense of humour.

_Can you not bring my Dad into this?_ Gabriel sighs, then quickly adds_ ... Long story short, you're actually my True Vessel, although Mike could probably use you in a pinch._ Only Raphael's line seems to be separate from the other Archangel lines, now. Gabriel's sure this isn't a coincidence, at least for Michael and Lucifer's lines.

_That dick Zachariah said I was just bait to get Dean to say yes,_ Adam tells him bitterly.

_You know Dean?_ Because, yeah, Gabriel's aware that ghoul!Adam met his half-brothers, but real Adam hadn't... Or so he'd thought.

_Yeah. Wait, you're the Gabriel that told them about the Horsemen's Rings? They said Lucifer killed you._

Pain flares as Gabriel remembers (again) Luci stabbing him through the chest. Not that he actually has a chest to feel phantom pain with right now, but. It still hurts. _He did. I put a spark of my Grace into your soul to keep track of you, which is why I'm not dead now. _

_That makes no fucking sense,_ Adam says. _But if you can get me out of here, I'd be willing to temporarily overlook that. And also that time you were MIA when those ghouls fucking ate me,_ he reminds him.

Gabriel winces. _I can- but only if you consent to be my Vessel._

Adam's silent for a long moment, but Gabriel resists the urge to read the blond's mind. _Fuck it. That's what Michael wants too, right? To beat up Lucifer. He needs a Vessel._

_Yes,_ Gabriel agrees.

_And what do you get out of this?_

_I get to live?_ Gabriel suggests, starting to feel panicked himself. He can hear Michael's voice, like a rumble of thunder in the distance - still far away, but steadily coming nearer. They're running out of time - Michael has ever been fond of theatrics, but if he realizes Gabriel is here - well, he'll probably come running, dramatic entrance be damned. _I was dead until you started praying to me, I swear._

_... Ok. Yes. I'll do it,_ Adam says. _Is that enough? Do I have to swear or something-_

Gabriel's Grace rushes into Adam's body; healing Adam of the wounds that someone - _Zachariah, the slimy bastard_ - inflicted upon him is the work of a thought. He becomes aware of banging on the door leading into the rest of the warehouse - Dean and Sam. Gabriel flies outside, grabbing the two Winchesters.

He spares a moment to be surprised that his Grace seems to be greatly restored now that Adam is his vessel, but puts it out of his mind to think about later.

"Wha- Adam!" Sam has the time to say, before Gabriel flies them to the first place he can think of.

In retrospect, Elysium Fields probably wasn't the best destination.

_Is that your... previous Vessel?_ Adam asks, startling Gabriel. The archangel had been alone in his vessel for so long (_What year is this? Where am I? I don't- recognize anything. What have you done to me? My family - they're all dead, aren't they? Oh, God, I just want to die-_) that he's forgotten what it's like having to share a body.

Not that he minds, of course. Especially since staring at what was, for the most part, his body for the past few millennia is not exactly Gabriel's idea of a good time.

"Yeah," he answers aloud.

"You're not Adam!" Dean snarls, jerking out of Gabriel's grasp.

"Not quite, anyway," Gabriel answers, unable to keep a smirk from escaping. It feels different on Adam's face than it had on his previous Vessel - but then, the two bodies are rather different, period.

"Who-?" Sam splutters, the two brothers watching the third with obvious distrust.

"Look, boys, I just saved you from Michael's wrath and retribution, et cetera. I think we can agree I'm on your team."

_Team Free Will_, Adam helpfully supplies, only sounding about forty-percent sarcastic.

_That's an awful name_, Gabriel informs him, disgusted.

_I'd like to see you come up with something better_.

_Careful what you ask for_, Gabriel snipes back without any heat.

"So you're not Michael," Sam says slowly, not relaxing in the slightest despite his words.

"Nope," he agrees.

"But you're not Adam, either!" Dean snaps.

"Hey, he's still here. He can hear everything you're saying."

The Winchesters eye him suspiciously. Gabriel snaps his fingers, a Snickers bar appearing in his hand.

"Oh-"

"_You_-"

He and Adam laugh for about five minutes straight at the looks of outrage and disbelief on Dean and Sam's faces.

* * *

><p>AN: And then Gabriel and Adam save the day because of reasons. EVERYONE LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Any mistakes would be my own - feel free to point them out!

Feedback appreciated!


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